


Incognito Mode

by msmchugh96



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Woman (Comic)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24954382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmchugh96/pseuds/msmchugh96
Summary: She had killed a man the night before for a small amount of change. Just enough to pay for groceries. Typically, her prices ran much higher, but her client was a young girl who had saved up a few weeks of allowance, and thirty dollars was the best she could do. Jessica would have gutted the little girl’s father like a fish for free, given how scared the girl felt in the palm of her hand. But, the child insisted, and Jess had started to run low ramen.Jessica closed her eyes while she took a sip of her drink. The caffeine hitting her heart like a truck. She hadn’t slept for days.“Excuse me, kid. Anyone sitting here?”, the low rasp of a man’s voice came up from behind her. She didn’t even have to open her eyes to know who it was.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Incognito Mode

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Another Jess and Bucky one shot to add to the roster of other ones I wrote. Be sure to check them out and I hope you enjoy it!

“Okay, so a large cold brew black. Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

“No, thank you.”

“Alrighty, that will be just $4.25.”

Jessica pulled a pile of crumpled up ones from her back pocket and slammed it on the counter. “You can keep the change.”

“Thank you so much. Step to the left, and your drink will be ready soon.”

Jessica leaned against the wall at the end of the counter, in between a portrait of Andy Warhol and a sketch drawing of a pigeon wearing a red beanie. She took a good look around the room to account for everyone in the place. Thankfully, it was a small hole in the wall type of coffee shop. For the most part, it was empty. It was early in the afternoon, meaning the only people inside were a few college students between classes: a couple of blondes with their boyfriends, a redhead with glasses typing away on her laptop, an adjunct professor spilling coffee on his disorganized papers, the four workers behind the counter, a man she could hear washing his hands in the bathroom, and Jess. 

As she pushed her sunglasses up to create a faux headband, Jessica grabbed her cold brew. “Thank you.”

“Of course! Have a great day!” the cheery teen behind the counter smiled just a little too wide. 

Jessica took a seat at the table in the back right corner. The yellow sunlight came through the glass windows warming her cheeks.  
She had killed a man the night before for a small amount of change. Just enough to pay for groceries. Typically, her prices ran much higher, but her client was a young girl who had saved up a few weeks of allowance, and thirty dollars was the best she could do. Jessica would have gutted the little girl’s father like a fish for free, given how scared the girl felt in the palm of her hands. But, the child insisted, and Jess had started to run low ramen. 

She closed her eyes while she took a sip of her drink. The caffeine hitting her heart like a truck. She hadn’t slept for days.

“Excuse me, kid. Anyone sitting here?”, the low rasp of a man’s voice came up from behind her. 

/Barnes./

Any temporary bliss dissipated once she opened her eyes, seeing that Bucky had already sat himself down across from her, “Why even bother asking?” 

“To be polite.” Bucky looked over Jess’ less than put-together appearance. “You are missing the baseball cap. The baseball cap really is what puts the look together.”

“What the fuck is that even suppose to mean?”

“You got a baggy t-shirt. The blue jeans. White tennis shoes. Sunglasses. A light jacket. But no baseball cap. Don’t they teach you anything?”

“Why do you act like at any point I can’t just blast you through a window with little to no effort.”

“Now I know having sunglasses and a hat seems excessive. However, with all the hidden cameras around nowadays, you have to make sure you are covered.”

“I swear, I’ll do it.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Are you sure?” Jessica gripped the coffee table hard enough to cause a crack in the wood. 

“I don’t think you have it in you. You look like shit, kid.” Bucky carefully put his hand on top of hers. “And this isn’t the place to cause a scene.”, his eyes glanced up at the rest of  
the coffee shop.

Jessica feeling everyone’s eyes on her, relaxed her grip on the table. “What do you want?” 

“Why the low-profile all of a sudden?”

“Got tired of the 9 to 5. I wanted a more flexible schedule.” Jessica couldn’t help but to laugh at her own little joke. 

Barnes rolled his eyes, “Give it to me straight, Jess.”

“Me and--”, her voice dropped to a low whisper, “HYDRA had a few disagreements and decided that it was best to keep me at least for right now--what the word they used-- furloughed.”

“You are in the dark?” 

“For now.”

“And if they ask you back?”

“If they have something I need. I have told you before, all of it is just temporary alliances.” Jessica slid her hand from underneath Bucky’s to grab her drink. 

The way she spoke compared to how she looked never matched up quite right in Bucky’s eyes. In another timeline, she should be in this coffee shop with a group of her girlfriends trying to study for a final exam or on a date with someone her own age she met in one of her 101 classes. Instead, she was about under 25 with a kill count nearing his own and abandoned by a terrorist organization that trained her. Plus, a robust set of superpowers had done considerable damage to her own body.  
Bucky took a long look into her eyes. “What are you doing now?”

“Working for myself. Odd jobs to keep me afloat.”

“But, you don’t have to.”

“I see what you guys do, and you see what I do. You already got someone like me on your team. You don’t need two of us.”

“The only thing you two have in common is the word spider and being annoying. Jess, I’m just worried. Last time I saw ya--you need people who care about you in your corner. I tried going the solo route, and it doesn’t work for people like us. I don’t know what HYDRA can give you that  
we apparently can’t, either way, it’s not worth still being tied to them.”

“Barnes, we aren’t the same. I am not a fucking “Avengers Assemble” type of gal.” Jessica took a deep breath to not officially break the table in two. “I’m not going to you tell if you are right--”

“I don’t think you ever could.”

“Shut it. Or wrong. Right now, I like what I do. Ground level, on the streets. No missions. I see something, I do something. I don’t see anything, I don’t do anything. My rules.”

Bucky bit the bottom of his lip hard. “Your stubbornness is going to be your downfall.”

While she would never admit it, especially not to Bucky, she knew he was right. It even frustrated her to no end that she couldn’t let herself be one of the heroes. At least not in the conventional sense of the word. Jessica didn’t see herself sitting in the same room as other A-type thrill-seekers looking to save the world day in and day out. On the other hand, deep down, she was hoping HYDRA would just leave her alone. A childish dream, but one she clung to because she enjoyed what she was doing now. Floating in the in-between of right and wrong.  
Jessica got up from the table. Readjusting her clothing and grabbing her drink, she placed her free hand on his shoulder. “Barnes, you and your team can take care of all the big bad guys. You guys have done it a thousand times over without me. Let me deal with the nobodies, for right now.”

“For right now?”

“For right now.” Jessica smiled. Her cracked lips splitting farther open. She left out the front door of the coffee shop back into the thick of it. She didn’t even make it down two blocks before she felt the hair on her arms stand up straight.


End file.
